Anthony Joshua - King of the Ring. Frank Worrall
respected world champion and Ben would also benefit, ending up working with his cousin as he moved ever upwards. And if anyone deserved a break with AJ, it was surely Ben, who had helped him escape from a life on the edge.
Ben had coaxed him in with the prospect of improving his fitness – via a fitness class and lifting weights. It was an inspired move as it put Anthony in the midst of a boxing world Ben was convinced would appeal to his giant of a cousin. The club is renowned for producing top boxers and for its top trainers. It advertises itself like this on a promotional site, ‘The gym has consistently been producing schoolboy, national and international amateur champions up to Olympic level. It has also trained and produced world rated professional boxers of the calibre of Spencer “The Omen” Oliver (who is now regularly on the Sky Sports panel offering expert analysis and commentary on all the major fights from around the world). Also, ex-British champion Sean Murphy – who challenged Steve Robinson for the world featherweight title). Come here to train with fully qualified boxing coaches. Fitness and weight training also provided.’
British heavyweight Dereck Chisora is also a graduate of Finchley ABC and is indebted to the club for his own development and the way it helped him fall for the fight game.
Back in 2007, as Anthony watched the boxers, including Ben, spar and work out, he too was gradually bitten by the boxing bug. On his way home from the club he would often practise his own moves in the street with Ben and then continue alone in front of a mirror in his bedroom. All of a sudden, the lad who had become lost had something to focus on, something that was more powerful than the streets – and something that had claimed him. After a few visits to the Finchley club, he plucked up courage to ask trainer Sean Murphy if he could put on some pads for a workout. Sean agreed, and took him on the pads, little expecting the boy to have so much power that his hand would sting for hours after just one punch.
Sean could see that Anthony was big and strong but had been surprised by the force the lad had produced with no previous training or learning. Sean’s fellow trainer at the club, John Oliver, witnessed the punch and explained why it had hurt, and why it had surprised both him and Sean so much. ‘The thing with pad work is you do get problems with new boys,’ Oliver told Sportsmail. ‘They might hit on the edge of the pad and it bends your fingers. But not this boy who had come in – he hit the pad perfectly in the middle with one of his first shots, bang. Sean starts yelling and this big lad is following him, saying, “Sorry, sorry”. We were all laughing but then Sean has to go off to hospital so that’s a bit more serious.
‘My God, when we hear back from him it turns out he hasn’t broken his hand – he’s shattered it. Every single metacarpal was smashed, maybe broken in 10 places. Well, I’m 72, and I’ve been in rooms with Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson – I don’t think I’ve ever heard something like that. Even now, 10 years on, Sean has problems with that hand.’
And Sean himself still remembers the incident as if it were yesterday – hardly surprising, given he had broken his wrist and needed a bone graft. He told ITV, ‘I was padding him like I normally do on a session but because he’s so tall, I had to hold my hands up really high and he hit the top of the pad and bent my wrist back. I’ve taught the boys not to show any pain so I just cracked on but I was in agony thinking I was going to pass out. So not only has he left an impression on me — he also left a scar on me.’
It is now a legendary tale in the making of AJ the world champion, highlighting as it does the boy’s determination to make something of himself and to escape his difficult youth, while also pinpointing the natural strength and ability that would enable him to do so. In 2017, when Anthony had beaten Klitschko, he would buy Sean Murphy a brand-new BMW 3-series car as a thank you for his care and guidance over the years – and for not complaining too much about that hand-shattering incident! Sean was almost lost for words as the big man handed him the keys to the £65,000 personalised motor. In a brilliant BBC documentary on AJ, broadcast days before his fight with Klitschko, he is seen giving the keys to a stunned Sean. And AJ revealed why he had bought it, saying, ‘When I was younger I was partying, I was getting in trouble, I had the court cases. This was the time I thought, “What will I do with myself?” I’d found boxing while on bail and I had the opportunity to go to Vegas to fight. So I told my site manager I would go to Vegas and be back in two weeks.
‘He said, “Nah, if you’re not here someone else can take your job. You choose what you want to do’. So, I ended up going to Vegas. I was f****d before boxing. That was my reckless days when I was smoking. Boxing really helped me get on the straight and narrow. It was at my first boxing club where I learned discipline. How to forget your ego and listen to instructions if you want to achieve things. Sean would say, “Shut up, get on the bags, stop talking”. He told me to stay focused. These guys will always have their door open for me, no matter what. I’ll never forget who has been there when no one was.’
Sean Murphy eventually recovered enough to thank his protégé for the car, which even had a personalised number plate. He said, ‘F*** off! Seriously? I’ll be scared to drive it. I remember Josh telling me a long time ago, “I’ll look after you.” But him just winning a world title is enough for me. I can’t believe it, it’s too nice, thank you. Inside I am jumping up and down.’
Sean added, ‘Josh hasn’t ever seen me speechless but I was dumbfounded. He did it for me as he was in a little bit of trouble when he started here, he had an electronic tag when he first came to us, so this gave him a focus in life, he found something that he enjoyed and that he was good at.’
This was a side to Anthony’s character that would make him the People’s Boxer in the UK as he broke through. In the ring, he was deadly, but outside he had the kind of warm, generous and magnetic personality that brought to mind Frank Bruno, who also came to be so loved by Britain as a whole, not just in boxing circles. Anthony would be seen to be generous and kind and approachable – another aspect of his redemption from the days when he was ‘a bad lad’. After presenting the BMW’s keys to Sean, AJ explained how important loyalty was to him by adding, ‘When it’s all said and done, I never forget the people who were there for me when no one else was.’
His cousin Ben had set him on the path to boxing and would come to his rescue a second time when Anthony decided he would like to learn to box. Ben lent him £25 to buy his first pair of boxing boots and was well impressed by what he saw as AJ worked out in them: ‘He took to it so naturally. But I’ll always remember one of his first sessions – he was so knackered he had to wait 15 minutes before getting in the car. Then as soon as he got home he threw up everywhere. You could see, though, that he was getting into it.’
Sean admitted that AJ was older than most of the boys who came to Finchley, but that he made up for the lost years with a determination to reach the top quickly and a willingness to learn. He was inquisitive and would constantly ask his trainers why he was being told to try different moves and how they would benefit him when he had his first bout. And it helped, of course, that he was grateful to Sean and his fellow trainers for spending time with him. It meant a lot to a boy who had felt lost and unsure of the direction life was taking him. Now he knew exactly what his role in life was to be, and exactly where he was heading, how to get there and who would help him on the journey. The instruction handed out at Finchley would eventually come to be worth millions of pounds. Anthony’s desire and search for perfection has also been key: it meant he was willing to put in the extra hours working on his jab, his hooks and his footwork. He has a superb boxing technique and it is all down to the effort he put in at Finchley, and continues to put in now with Rob McCracken in Sheffield.
He has great humility for an elite sportsman. Never does he think he has cracked it, and that there is nothing to learn. Sure, he is confident of his own ability – and some may call that super-confidence arrogance – but he remains willing to learn and to listen. Otherwise, why would McCracken bother to continue coaching him? If there was nothing to add to his talents, he may as well coach himself.
Sean Murphy believed he had found a raw diamond in the 6-foot-6-inch boxer. He was confident he would soon have the power to be able to look after himself in bouts and liked it that the boy was willing to take his suggestions on board. Sean decided it would speed up AJ’s development if he also saw